http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150212/NEWS02/702129888
Thursday, February 12, 2015
$650K payment to CEO raises questions
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150212/NEWS02/702129888
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I wonder of Hayward can sleep at night, probably.
ReplyDeleteThe rich get richer while the poor get poorer and the middle bunch scrapes away just to buy lunch.
if they can afford to waste this much money,then they don't need town or state funding,about time these organization start being held accountable for their action's,for that amount of money i would have to work 20 years
ReplyDeleteI agree, how can this not impact town votes? For years communities have put their trust in this organization approving a large dollar amount to support the residents of our town and to have it wasted like this is unacceptable. The lower level employees and the clients are the ones that suffer for the mismanagement of the board and the leadership.
DeleteI have supported the article on the warrant for HCRS in the past, but I can no longer do that this year. I encourage others to vote no.
I think that is a terrific idea! They can start a "Go Fund Me" page if they need more money! They don't need mine.
DeleteThis better affect the town vote!
ReplyDeleteYup! Will be voting down their funding at next vote. This is ridiculous. Not to mention they pay terrible wages to their staff.
ReplyDeleteWell said Anonymous!!!
DeleteHCRS, especially the upper management, have milked thousands of our tax dollars over the years. At the same time they have treated many good employees reprehensibly. It has been a top heavy organization for some time. This is an insult to the employees who haven't received an increase, taxpayers, and the people who need the services. It's time they were held accountable. This speaks to the morality and ethics of the organization. It may be perfectly legal, but ethically and morally it is so wrong given it's a non profit funded through our hard earned tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteVote no on any special appropriations for HCRS. Apparently, they have plenty of money and do not need the money from the special appropriations.
ReplyDeleteIf a person is educated enough to hold a position with an annual compensation of $162,000 they should be smart enough to have their own pension plan. The reasoning to justify the $650K does not work for me but it seems our local politicians are okay with that. Maybe the $650K should have been used for payroll increases and actually providing services to the people who help fund the HCRS budget.
ReplyDeleteWhat a "crazy" story! Don't act so surprised folks. These predators have maneuvered mental health right into the state's coffers just as easy as backing a truck up to the vault at Ft. Knox. There's no altruism there, it's all the Gucci loafer types tapping into a government revenue stream because they know the weak minded liberal politicians and their voting base will never seek reductions in social spending, no matter how massively wasteful it becomes.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations taxpayers, you've just been screwed over again and the recipients of your forced "generosity" are laughing all the way to the bank!
Hayward was CEO for 17 year and made significant growth for the Agency. She was innovative in the programming of the agency and left it in good stead for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteThat being said I think she deserved the compensation package that she received. It is not unusual for that amount being paid to people in that position.
IMO she deserved every penny that she got.
Over those 17 years, that individual could have accrued personal contributions to a 401k retirement account of around $280,000 (assuming current limits), and that doesn't include any matches from her employer or returns on those investments over time. That amounts to a fairly tidy little 401k as it is, without this little greedy sweetheart deal.
DeleteDo you seriously think the money came from HCRS funds? This money came from our tax dollars you know, that endless supply of money that she dipped from.
DeleteBut how much of that 401(k) would have been ripped off by Wall Street? They got 50% of mine, and I wasn't making one-third of what Hayward was.
DeleteIf you lost that much then you either had terrible financial advisors or poor sense, or both! Ignorance is no excuse (I know, I know, you're a liberal and therefore entitle to blame others for your own misfortune - just get over it already)!
DeleteChuck, why do you keep blaming wall street for losing your retirement funds. You didn't have to invest in high risk stocks or what ever stocks you bought. I had a 401k during that time period and was getting a fixed 8 % return. I didn't lose anything because I knew if I invested in the ups and downs of the stock market I could lose a lot of money...and people like you did. You were all bragging that you were getting good returns on your stocks but then when the sh*t hit the fan you all cried like little babies.
DeleteIt's your fault and not the stock market so stop your belly bellyaching.
2:05, I am quite well off, living on $12,000 a year more than I need. I learned as a child that if you don't have the money, you won't spend it, and I figured that putting into accounts I couldn't touch would ensure that when I retired it would be there for me. When my employer offered me a chance to open up a 401(k), I did, parking one-third each into low-, medium- and high-risk and trusting the market to at least even things up. Little did I know that in addition to the housing market scam Wall Street was also gouging me for at least one-quarter of everything I was socking away.
DeleteHowever, that was back in the days when if Wall Street was crooked, CEO's went to jail-- 1,800 of them by the hand of Bill Black in the S&L scandal. And now, I don't want to see kids of 55 and 60 suddenly finding out that Wall Street is treating them even worse than me.
People who work hard and who are able to set aside something for their retirement deserve better than what Wall Street dished out to the little people who thought they were trustworthy. Maybe you should advise them!
Excellent response, Mr. Gregory. You are, if you'll pardon the pun, "right on the money."
DeleteJH was out on vacation more than she was in, drove a "company" 24/7, and slept in meetings. HCRS is more dedicated to keeping "consumers" on services than moving them forward to better lives. A few years ago HCRS was told that they were hospitalizing more children then other agencies in the State. They never stopped to research why that might be the case, or to put other effective services in place, they simple stopped hospitalizing most children and told parents that their children's issues were behavioral. HCRS runs a school called Kindle Farms and they pay the parent standing committee to go to Kindle Farm "sales" presentation in the hope that the parent is going to push the school team to pay to have their child go there. Sending a kid to Kindle Farm cost the school/tax payers about $75,000.00 a year and according to a school person I spoke to the kid stays until they graduate from high school. What it comes down to is that HCRS is not about caring for their consumers, they are about lining the pockets of the folks at the top their Pig Pile. Get a clue that is a State endorsed puppet show that we are required to use to access many higher level mental health services.
DeleteYou just refuse to take responsibility for your own plight, don't you? The warning signs were there, but if you had your head in the sand, of course you didn't see them and you took the hit.
DeleteYou've obviously been consuming some PBS propaganda about Wall Street, too. Such a shame.
But if you have $12,000 that's not being put to use every year, then as an obedient socialist you should be sending that back to the state for that your nanny can take better care of you!
12:27, I hope you are living on at least $12,000 a year more than you need. If not, then you are in the plight you mistakenly think that I am in.
DeleteWhen I was growing up, we were told-- and truthfully so-- that bankers could be trusted, that government protected us and gave us chances to succeed. All of us knew we didn't have to worry about getting our pockets picked or losing our homes to brokers, bankers or insurers who couldn't or wouldn't lie to us.
With the de-regulation that started even earlier than the Reagan years, all those prominent men of the community found themselves insulated from consequences-- and they certainly on Wall Street became crooks. And they still are, and while you might be doing okay, your children and certainly your grandchildren are going to pay for it.
What did you do during the last forty years to try to bring the system back to proper function?
It sounds like HCRS is a typical bureaucracy. Bloated budgets, bloated staffing, top heavy compensation for "administrators" and an insatiable drive to expand, growth for the sake of growth. A 41million dollar budget!? 600 employees!? 650 thousand dollar golden parachutes!? Ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteAs an employee of HCRS, I am very disappointed in Judith Hayward And the board of directors who approved this.
ReplyDeleteThe people who we support are the ones who suffer. I'm very confused as to why HCRS cannot afford to hire any support staff to help our clients but can afford to pay Judith $650,000 to retire?It's funny because you'd think she would have a 401K like the rest of us which she probably does.
I feel bad for our clients, especially the ones who can't voice their opinions.
About fifteen years ago the director of VSAC walked away with a platinum parachute which included lifetime health insurance. About ten years ago, the CEO of Vermont BC/BS left-- I believe he was fired-- with a $7 million severance package.
ReplyDeleteSo, what needs to be in place to keep this unwarranted generosity from happening? Government regulation?
What's needed is integrity, but progressivism has just about eradicated it from our society!
DeleteStirring declaration, but misplaced, 6:56. Compare HCRS to Medicare or the VA.
DeleteWhy does Medicare Part A manage to operate at a level of 2% for administrative costs, and why does our nation's best health care system (the VA) get by with reimbursing its director for only $180,000 a year, while a "not-for-profit" outfit like VT BC/BS need $3.2 million for its CEO and trustees?
And, why are medical services under Medicare Part A so cheap compared to piratical prescription prices under Medicare Part D? What is the Part A system able to do that the Part D cannot? Integrity doesn't fit in this picture at all.
Anybody have an idea? Anybody? Bueller?
This is sick, really sick, some one is a crook in this deal.
ReplyDeleteProtest.
Second paragraph: "Judith Hayward left HCRS after 17 years as CEO on July 1, 2014, with a $650,000 cash golden parachute that HCRS officials said compensated her for the organization’s lack of a pension plan."
ReplyDeleteYup, that's how it works in America nowadays. If you (oops) forget to have a pension or make plans for your retirement, your employer (publicly funded) will make up for it when you retire, right Scott Walker (and way too many et al's)?? We are really lucky to live in such altruistic times. One can tell what schmucks they all are simply by referring to the $200,000 "mistake" of letting the poor dear fall into the wrong tax bracket, says I, a former SRS social worker and school guidance counselor, who lives soley on his retirement of social security and VT state pension, but still has to pay taxes on that! Wow HCRS! I thought it was bad way back in the 80's and 90's but this is a winner! or loser, depending upon which side you are on. By the way, let's not be so anonymous, eh?
You're a mighty bold man to put your name behind your comments, Mr. Treu!
DeleteWhen we allow the government to fund companies then we have no one to blame for these situations other than ourselves.
DeleteWe also have a moral responsibility to vote those out of office who no longer do what is right for us or have lost touch with their community.
Deletere 6:33 AM...
DeleteAnd yet we never do, we always vote Democrat.
Meanwhile, the clients live in rat-infested, broken-down mobile homes, usually in the middle of nowhere. Disgusting doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this.
ReplyDelete....and the people who own these homes get paid VERY well.
DeleteA Tale of Two Cities : By Charles Dickens
ReplyDeleteSounds like this town / country could use some of that.
After ahe retired HCRS still paid her a 6 figure salary to "work from home", along with an expensive company car and credit card. This was in collusion with the former board chair person. Once the new board president became aware thus was discontinued.
ReplyDeleteThis is not her fault, any of us would do the same thing if we had a chance. It's become exposed as to how this can happen and maybe something good will come out of it. Anyone who milks the government has plenty of people watching their back because they don't want to ruin the chances of them getting the same package in the future.
DeleteOh I have to laugh at this. First, I have to say how stunned I am at how stupid locals really are. Do you REALLY think that people in those CEO/CFO positions don't deserve their retirement package or have worked for it. What you people don't seem to realize is that these people have MBA's which cost thousands and thousands if not hundreds of thousands to obtain. YOU DONT so don't compare their years of hard work. Often these retirements are linked to performance. Something your town leadership has yet to comprehend and your school board as well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. You all sound like a bunch of bitter ex-employees. Don't expect to have graduated high school and that everyone owes you something or that they should live like you. I also want to address something else. These are COMPANIES in business to make money! You idiots are the ones who let HCRS in this town, you also have had ample opportunity to vote their funding out the door but you STILL did that regardless to the fact that they brought undesirables to this town and have ruined it. So guess what..??BUCK IT UP....this is what you get when you play with the big boys. You are getting EVERYTHING YOU DESERVE.
Just a reminder, wasn't it a year or two ago that HCRS was being asked to reveal their financials and they refused? Where were you then...Oh that's right you were voting their funding in at town meeting...What a bunch of uneducated backwoods bumpkins...ENJOY cause you won't wise up.
I don't think anyone on this planet deserves a bonus of that amount.
DeleteSo flatlander shut up.
AND that flatlander attitude is what got you guys the crummy way of life you are living. Wise up, pull your head out of the sand and get over your self loathing because you lacked getting an education. This town needs to wake up and enter a new century. This isn't 1950 anymore bud
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